In terms of reports and rumors, it would appear that Associate Head Coach Barry Rohrssen interviewed yesterday for the Seton Hall job, and is the co-leader to get the gig.

Bobby Gonzalez is keeping quiet about his travel itinerary after gaining a reputation, fair or not, as a self-promoter in seasons past. Even though he interviewed with Temple yesterday and has Seton Hall up next, the Manhattan coach is cultivating his discretion this time.

With Louis Orr out as coach of Seton Hall, the Big East program has begun interviewing candidates, among them Pittsburgh assistant Barry Rohrssen, who met with officials yesterday, and Gonzalez, who will interview today or tomorrow.

As for the other candidates named for the job, Iona athletic director Pat Lyons said that Seton Hall had not called to ask permission to speak to Jeff Ruland.
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Temple is a high-profile assignment, but Seton Hall would be a more logical step for Gonzalez. His main competition, Rohrssen, has a well-deserved reputation for snagging New York players like Carl Krauser and Mount Vernon’s Keith Benjamin.

Benjamin’s high school coach, Bob Cimmino, said Rohrssen is great with the kids and steeped in New York knowledge.

“He’s a people person,” Cimmino said. “He has a way of getting to know you very quickly, and he takes a keen interest in the background of the players.”

But he has not been a head coach of a high-profile program. Gonzalez, on the other hand, has proved himself to be a good recruiter and adept at pulling the best out of the players with whom he has to work.

The story is very positive towards Gonzalez, though it does a good job of pointing out why Gonzalez isn’t the slam dunk others assume he should be. One reason why Seton Hall may not be as hot for Gonzalez as you would think they should be, is his reputation for wanting to move further up the coaching ladder. That he was so eager to bolt Manhattan in the past for jobs that it turned ADs off to him. Seton Hall doesn’t want to be perceived as a stepping stone gig. I can sympathize a little.

There are, of course several others, listed as possibilities for Seton Hall.

Monmouth coach Dave Calloway is also expected to be contacted. Quinlan will gauge Larranaga’s interest after George Mason is finished playing in the Final Four. Larranaga, a Bronx native, has orchestrated one of the most improbable runs through the NCAA Tournament.

While Iona coach Jeff Ruland remains a possibility, he is considered a long shot at this point.

Florida Atlantic University Coach Matt Doherty is also a name being bandied about.

Still, the reports keep indicating that it is Gonzalez or Rohrssen.

With Pecora out of the mix, Seton Hall athletic director Joe Quinlan is focusing his attention on Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez and Pittsburgh assistant Barry Rohrssen, according to three people familiar with Seton Hall’s coaching search.

Rohrssen is also a possibility at Fairfield.

Rohrssen, regarded as one of the nation’s top New York City recruiters, also is a candidate at Fairfield along with former St. John’s coach Fran Fraschilla, who is said to be interviewing with the MAAC school today.

Fraschilla – who worked the NIT for ESPN last night at the Garden and has been outward in his affection for his current position – would neither confirm nor deny the rumor.

“I have had conversations with [athletic director] Gene Doris,” he told The Post, “and I think Fairfield is an excellent university.”

There is some surprise that Rohrssen would be as strong a possibility as Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who guided the Jaspers to a pair of NCAA tournaments, including an upset of Florida in 2004, and two NIT appearances, should have a leg up.

Rohrssen, who has funneled New York high school talent to Pittsburgh for years, is known as a strong recruiter, something Gonzalez can match. But Gonzalez has seven years of head coaching experience, something Rohrssen does not.

Seton Hall has no recruits signed for next season, so the new coach will have to play catchup in a big way on the recruiting trails.

Coach Dixon was, naturally, positive about the possibility of Rohrssen moving to a new job.

“I want guys who want to be head coaches,” Dixon said. “To be a good head coach you have to be a good assistant first. I want our guys looking at head coaching jobs and preparing to be head coaches because that makes them good assistant coaches.”

Former Pitt Coach Ben Howland reminisced a little about Jamie Dixon as he glowingly spoke about him.

If not for the job at UCLA — in Los Angeles, near both men’s roots — Howland said he likely would have stayed at Pitt and would have hoped that Dixon would have remained on his staff as his top assistant.

“Jamie is an incredible coach,” said Howland, who leads the Bruins against LSU in the national semifinals Saturday. “He represents the community and the university with the type of values you expect.”
…
Before deciding to remain at Pitt, where he conceded he always figured to be, Dixon was being courted by Arizona State and Missouri to fill their coaching vacancies.

“I was getting calls from a lot of big schools about Jamie,” Howland said. “He could have gotten more money, but with him, it’s not about that.

“I’m so happy and excited for the University of Pittsburgh and for Jamie. It’s a perfect match.”

Just before news finally started leaking that Dixon was going to stay at Pitt,stories had started surfacing that Howland was telling people that Dixon would be staying at Pitt.

Looks like if Pitt loses Associate Head Coach Barry Rohrssen it will be to a school in NY/NJ. Duquesne hired Ron Everhart from Northeastern. Apparently out of default.

Ron Everhart, who built successful programs at Northeastern and McNeese State, will be the next basketball coach at Duquesne, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
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Everhart, who grew up 90 minutes from Pittsburgh in Fairmont, W.Va., was hired after interviewing last weekend and again Monday with Duquesne athletic director Greg Amodio, who is making his first major hire since replacing Brian Colleary nearly a year ago.

Everhart and Kent State coach Jim Christian were the finalists for the job, but Christian pulled his name out of contention Tuesday. John Groce, an Ohio State assistant and a longtime friend of Amodio, apparently was not interested in the job.

Everhart played his college ball at Virginia Tech. This may be the final test for whether Duquesne should drop to Div. II or not. Everheart actually would appear to have some credibility when it comes to turning around programs.

The 44-year-old Everhart had an 82-68 record at Northeastern, including a 19-11 overall record and 12-6 conference record this season in the school’s first year in the Colonial Athletic Association — the conference that sent George Mason to the NCAA Final Four and Old Dominion to the NIT semifinals.

In 2004-05, the Huskies went 21-10 and were 15-3 in America East, the school’s best conference record since 1986-87. Among the schools the Huskies beat under Everhart were West Virginia, Boston College and Massachusetts.

Before being hired at Northeastern, Everhart had a 92-104 record at McNeese State, a school that hadn’t had a winning record in four seasons before he arrived in 1994.

His final McNeese team went 22-9. With many of the players he recruited, the Cowboys advanced to the NCAA Tournament the season after he left.

Northeastern’s 1986-87 team was put together by Jim Calhoun, who left for UConn prior to that season.

The City Game might actually stand a chance at being competitive someday.

Maybe he really is standing out in spring drills. Maybe it’s because he’s one of the new faces. Whatever the reason, there seems to be a steady bit of buzz regarding Freshman CB Jovani Chappel.

Chappel, a Big 33 game performer, might be the most intriguing player. He has a lot of talent, but is the least experienced.

“He’s ahead of some of our veterans from a knowledge standpoint,” Rhoads said. “He’s very self-motivated.”

That was evident after a brief conversation.

“All I think I have to do is show that I’m improving,” Chappel said. “Coach Rhoads said that he doesn’t want me making the same mistakes twice, and I want to show him that I’m actually learning the system.

“So, I watch film and give 100 percent,” Chappel said. “He says you can’t coach effort, so I want to give 100 percent every time I go out there.”

Not that Junior Kennard Cox and Senior Reggie Carter are ready to concede the open starting CB spot to him. It’s just that attention seems to be directed to Chappel.

For the second consecutive day, redshirt freshman wideout Cedric McGee and freshman cornerback Jovanni Chappel exchanged barbs — and a few shoves — on the practice field.

They traded head slaps Friday night after Chappel broke up a pass. Yesterday, Chappel tossed McGee out of bounds with extra ferocity after McGee made a catch.

“Me and Cedric go at it all the time,” Chappel said, laughing. “We’re in the same predicament. We’re both trying to move up on the depth chart. And we’re both physical guys. So, I make him better, and he makes me better every day.”

Chappel seems to really enjoy getting into it with the WRs. Yesterday I noted the story on his roommate, Redshirt Freshman WR Oderick Turner. They also apparently like to go at each other.

The article noting Chappel and McGee going at it really focused on Darrelle Revis and thoughts of going pro. Especially after he attended Pitt’s pro day.

Revis, who will be a junior this fall, is aware he could be auditioning for the scouts this time next year.

“My thoughts always drift toward that,” he said. “But right now, coach (Dave) Wannstedt talked to me about being focused on this year. I’m not going to put myself ahead of the team.

“I don’t know if I’m going to leave next year. If the opportunity presents itself, then I’ll go. If not, I can stay for my senior year and help the team even more.”

At the Pro Day, Revis kept a close eye on corner Josh Lay, his cousin and former Pitt teammate. Lay had a great workout, and, with the NFL Draft taking place in less than five weeks, his stock reportedly is rising.

“Josh is excited,” Revis said. “He’s always talking about how it’s a dream come true.”

I suppose there is some concern that Revis might start putting his own pro aspirations ahead of the team. I’m not overly concerned because he’s shown no sign of it to this point, and the nature of his position puts him on more of an island on the field. He has to be responsible for himself.

Really, he simply answered the question honestly. Maybe it would have been easier to go with some simple cliche and deflect away from the issue with an, “I’m not thinking about that at all. I just want to help the team…”

He had just been in attendance of an event where Pitt Seniors were performing for NFL scouts. Of course it’s on his mind.

Additionally, it’s always been there for Revis. He’s always had the talent and everyone knew from day one he has the potential. Add in the fact that his uncle is Sean Gilbert a past NFL All-pro and even another relative, Aliquippa HS Junior Herb Pope, will one day head to the NBA. He comes from an athletically gifted family with skills to play at the pro level.

Given the expected youth and lack of quality depth on the lines, the health of the starters will be vital. One of the things that hurt Pitt’s D-line last year was Clint Session being in and out of the line-up with various injuries. He’s worked to get faster and drop extra weight.

Session was moved last spring from inside linebacker to outside linebacker, a position he had not played in some time. Then in summer camp, a knee injury prevented him from being a factor early in the season and he had a bothersome shin injury that hampered him in midseason.

After making 11 starts as a sophomore on the team that won the Big East and went to the Fiesta Bowl, Session was relegated to part-time player status last season who contributed just 28 tackles in eight games.
…
Session spent the offseason watching what he ate and worked on his speed with a track coach in Florida. He came into spring practice 12 pounds lighter than the end of last season and feels good physically.

“This is the most comfortable I’ve been since I’ve been here,” he said. “I feel like I can really help this scheme. Coach is expecting big things out of me this year. He’s expecting me to be a leader.”

Bonus points for Clint referring to himself in the 3d person in this puff piece. Just something that has been missing from early stories on players this spring even if he was inconsistent in slipping in and out of it.

“Last year was tough, but it was like a stepping stone,” Session said. “I’m just happy it’s over and out of the way, and it’s a new year. It was tough going through that, but it’s a new year now. And I really don’t want to talk about last year. We’re looking toward this year, now.

“But it definitely was motivation for me. It almost was a wasted year. Clint Session’s name wasn’t out there helping his teammates, and he wasn’t out there contributing to the team. So, you always want to bounce back from that. It’s the last year to get a chance to have a winning season.”

Session primarily worked on improving his speed, and he trained at a camp specifically geared toward speed work when he went back home to southern Florida in the offseason.

“I believe I’ve gotten faster, because that’s mostly what I was working on in the offseason,” Session said. “Just trying to be fast. I did some running at home with some guys, and I know it’s paying off.

“I got a trainer back home (who is) a speed trainer. He put me through some hard drills, and hopefully that can get the best out of me. You pull a sled and pull guys with ropes, so that’s what I did to improve my speed.”

Of course it isn’t just Session. The whole line has to be better.

“For us to make some strides as a football team, that position is critical,” Wannstedt said. “I don’t care what level you’re talking about, those guys up front have to perform — and perform at a high level. We were inexperienced last year. That’s scary. Now we’re a year older and that will benefit us this year.”

A couple of local players are hoping to earn starting positions and shore up the line. Corey Davis, a 6-foot-1, 300-pound sophomore from Peabody High School, played in six games last season and recorded five tackles. Craig Bokor, a 6-3, 290-pound redshirt freshman from Hopewell, did not play but hopes to be a part of the rotation this season.

“We have no choice but to improve from last year,” Davis said. “It can’t get any worse.”

Bokor said the coaches have tweaked the defensive scheme this spring. Last season, he said, the defensive linemen played a read-and-react style that took away the natural aggression of the players. That philosophy is gone, replaced by a full-steam-ahead, play-making mentality for the four down linemen.

“They just want us to get off the ball,” Bokor said. “We want to put the linemen in the backfield. They call it capturing the lineman’s heels. We just want to be powerful and physical.”

Sounds good, and god knows they need to be more aggressive off the line. Lots of questions, though, as to whether they will be better. I vaguely recall last year the offensive line talking glowingly about being more aggressive and attacking with a more run-oriented offense, rather than playing to pass-block. That didn’t work so well.

The first of what will be many. This one is hosted over at Schembechler Hall. Unlike the detailed essay from Matt on these questions, I’m going to — in a rare change of pace — be brief.

1) It’s early, but thus far, which offseason change or changes in college football are you most excited about?

The sense of impending doom that is just now beginning to dawn with the knowledge that Fox and the Fox-ification of coverage of the BCS Bowls is drawing ever closer. I can’t wait for the screams and brutal treatment it will receive.

2) With spring practice underway, what are the three concerns about your team that are causing you the most anxiety? (USC fans can’t just list the departures of Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and LenDale White.)

1. Line play — defense.
2. Line play — offense.
3. Line play — generally.

Notice a trend?

3) Care to take a stab at a preseason top five?

This will be very preliminary. I don’t like any team trying to break-in a new QB being in the top-5, so without looking too deep and plenty of caveats and caution. Here’s an impulsive listing:

1. Florida
2. Ohio St.
3. LSU
4. ND
5. WVU

But don’t expect that to stay that way come August and the return of the BlogPoll.

Track and Field began for high schools a few days ago in Western PA. I admit to generally not caring. I’ll make an exception here.

Valley junior Toney Clemons already has four scholarship offers for football.

Pitt, Mississippi, Akron and Connecticut have all courted Clemons, a wide receiver/defensive back, who has delicate hands and blazing speed.

But Clemons doesn’t think he’d be drawing nearly as much attention if it wasn’t for track.

“Like coach (George) Webb says, track is a warm-up for football,” said Clemons, who is the defending champion in the WPIAL Class AA long jump. “Track’s always been my first sport, but football is my first love. But the two go hand-in-hand. You need one to be conditioned for the other.”

Judging by the list of teams interested in him and that Scout.com already has him listed as a 4-star recruit, I think there’s a good chance he’d still be getting plenty of interest.

Duquesne is still looking for a coach, and haven’t exactly rushed into the interview process. They got around to getting permission from a couple of schools.

Two head coaches — Jim Christian of Kent State and Ron Everhart of Northeastern — were given permission to speak with Duquesne about its men’s basketball vacancy.

“They did request permission to speak with (Christian), and it was granted,” Kent State director of athletic communications Jeff Schaefer said.

Mark Harris, the assistant director of sports information at Northeastern, said Everhart was cleared to speak with Duquesne.
…
Meanwhile, Ohio State assistant coach John Groce, regarded as one of the frontrunners for most of the four-week search, has told friends he is not interested in the Duquesne job.
…
Duquesne’s salary range has been reported anywhere from $300,000 to $600,000 per season.
…
Christian, 40, a former assistant at Pittsburgh under Ralph Williard from 1996-99, is 89-40 in four seasons at Kent State. His contract runs through 2012 and pays him about $170,000 annually.

Everhart is 82-68 in five years at Northeastern, a Colonial Athletic Association school. His current contract runs through the 2007-08 season.

Kennedy is currently renegotiating a long-term contract for his coach. It is believed the new deal would boost Christian’s salary into the range of $250,000 per season, making him the highest paid coach at the Mid-American Conference school.

I’m guessing Duquesne is looking to keep the salary range to start much closer to the $300,000 range. No mention of Pitt Associate Head Coach Barry Rohrssen in the article.

Ron Cook hails the Dixon extension for Pitt as the end to fan concerns that coaches view Pitt as merely a stepping stone job and that the administration wouldn’t work to keep coaches.

What’s important is that a good, young coach wanted to stay at Pitt. The guess here is Dixon never seriously considered leaving. He merely took advantage of being in the right place at the right time. His young Pitt team had surprising success in the Big East this season before its collapse against Bradley in the NCAA tournament. There were job openings at Arizona State and Missouri. Both schools reached out to him. Dixon used that interest to get a big raise, much the way Prosser worked Wake Forest three years ago.

Dixon might have gotten a little more at Arizona State or Missouri, but it wouldn’t have been worth him moving. He knows he should have a strong team next season; all but Carl Krauser among his key players will be back. Of greater note, Dixon knows he has a chance to be a big winner at Pitt for a long time. He realized he didn’t have to leave to get that opportunity.

The grass no longer is greener someplace else.

He does get the timeline wrong about the Big East football break-up. That started happening several weeks after Dixon was given the head job.

While on the subject of a real stepping stone job, Seton Hall looks to be rebuffed by Tom Pecora of Hofstra. Seems he actually likes where he lives, his job, his salary raise and doesn’t like what he’s seen of Seton Hall.

That’s what happened to the Seton Hall University men’s basketball program Monday when Hofstra’s Tom Pecora rebuffed an opportunity to become the Pirates’ next head coach.

Sources at both schools said Pecora will remain with Hofstra, which scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. today.

While Seton Hall technically did not offer him the position, sources said Pecora had been informed informally that he was the top choice to succeed Louis Orr, who was fired Friday.

Pecora, who has proclaimed his loyalty to Hofstra on various broadcast outlets over the past few days, was said to be concerned about job security at Seton Hall in light of the firing of Orr, who had led the Pirates to two NCAA Tournament appearances over the past three seasons.
…
Why would Pecora turn down a Big East job to remain with a mid-major program?

The financial gain could be negligible. Between his base salary and income from conducting camps and clinics, Pecora is making close to $400,000, sources say.

Orr’s base salary was $499,000. Hofstra administrators could close the gap by sweetening the pot a little.

Hofstra narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament this year, returns most of its key players next year and has a strong recruiting class on the way. Pecora’s profile could get even stronger if he stays put.

Sources close to Pecora say he loves Hofstra and was turned off by Seton Hall’s handling of Orr, which was blasted by the national media.

He didn’t even view it as a good stepping stone from Hofstra. Seton Hall’s humiliation continues.

So who is Seton Hall moving on to next?

Seton Hall, which sought and received permission to contact Pecora over the weekend, apparently has moved on and received similar permission to approach Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez and Pittsburgh assistant Barry Rohrssen. Iona coach Jeff Ruland also is a candidate.

You would think Bobby Gonzalez would be the best choice with his success with Manhattan and actually winning a game or two in the NCAA Tournament. The fact that Rohrssen is being considered as another lead candidate is a testament to his charisma and recruiting reputation. Of course, Seton Hall fans might also view it as part of the administration’s unwillingness to pay much for a coach, since Rohrssen has never been a head coach, and would likely come cheaper than Gonzalez or other candidates.

The main concern for anyone considering the Seton Hall job is if you can win/recruit enough to satisfy the administration while being hindered by poor facilities, a low budget and fierce competition for local talent.

I would be mildly surprised if Rohrssen got the Seton Hall job. It would be a huge achievement and huge risk. It would be more logical and expected that Manhattan or Iona would consider him if Seton Hall hired their guy away. Or perhaps one of the other NYC metro colleges needing a new coach.

I do want Rohrssen to get an opportunity. It would be good for Pitt to have coaches from the staff get the chance. It helps the reputation of the school and quite frankly it will increase the interest and quality of potential applicants to take his place if they know it will lead to more opportunities in the future. The better the staff around Coach Dixon, the better the overall coaching, team and future players.

Paul Evans was not the best coach in the world, and his players still don’t speak that highly of him. What he did have were top assistants like John Calipari to help control the situation, recruit and coach.

If Rohrssen were to leave, I would look closely at who is on staff at Hofstra, Manhattan and the other schools. Which assistants have built relationships within the NY/NJ area and could maintain them from Pittsburgh.

I’ve received a couple e-mails asking how the contributions are coming to move to a new site and achieve more mobile blogging with a new laptop.

A decent first week. 12 contributions on-line and sending checks. About 25% towards where I would like to reach in terms of monetary donations.

I hope more will be willing to make a contribution. One of the things that moving to a separate site will allow me to do will be to save comments as well as posts. One of the drawbacks to the present system is that comments are not archived and that’s something I would like to change.

As previously noted, the spring drills are the time for the receivers to bond with Palko and try and jockey for position on the depth chart before the highly heralded commits arrive for the fall.

Joe DelSardo, Derek Kinder, Marcel Pestano, Cedric McGee and Oderick Turner all could be a factor for Pitt.

“I’ve tried to spend as much time with those guys as possible to find out their likes and dislikes,” Palko said at spring practice Thursday. “Are they a put-your-arm-around-them type of guy or do you need to get on their tails or do you just need to talk to them? Hopefully, I’ll find that out pretty quick here.”

Kinder, who will be a junior in the fall, made eight starts – including the final seven games – and steadily improved throughout last season. He finished second to Lee with 37 catches for 374 yards and three touchdowns. But Lee’s defection left a void at the split end spot.

DelSardo, who was replaced by the bigger, faster Kinder, dropped to just 15 catches and no touchdowns after making 49 catches with four scores as a sophomore. The speedy Pestano had just one catch for five yards as a redshirt freshman, while Turner and McGee both redshirted last season.

“No one is penciled in as a starter on opening day yet, and I think that’s the way you have to look at it whether you have good freshmen coming in or not,” Palko said. “Competition always makes you play better, and that’s what we’re experiencing now during practice. We have a talented recruiting class coming in, but it’s their time now. And the guys that are here need to step up.”

Derek Kinder is feeling more comfortable as a starting receiver and that he has Palko’s confidence.

Redshirt Freshman Oderick Turner gets a puff-piece as he tries to get a good spot on the depth chart.

Oderick Turner is a freshman, so he didn’t want to sound cocky or greedy when someone asked how he felt when wideout Greg Lee decided to bolt for the NFL.

“I don’t know if I was surprised,” Turner said. “But he was good enough to go. So, if he had the chance, it was probably the best thing for him. That’s his decision. It wasn’t that I was happy …”

Turner paused and smiled.

“But, then again, I am happy.”

He does have his cliches down. An important first step.

“I’m just trying to be more consistent and (get a) better understanding of the offense,” he said. “Whatever they want me to do, I’m going to do it.”
…
By the end of camp, Turner suspected he would be redshirted. Wannstedt confirmed it a couple of weeks into the season.

“It was the best thing for me to do,” Turner said. “That way, I could get to know the system better and be more comfortable. Plus, I had Greg and all those other receivers to learn from. I just sat back and watched them, and it taught me a lot.”

Turner’s father Odessa played receiver in the NFL from ’87 to ’93, and played his college ball at Northwestern St. — the school that knocked off Iowa in the NCAA. His roommate this season is Freshman CB Jovani Chappel. They like to go at each other.

H.B. Blades was put on the preliminary watch lists for the Rotary Lombardi Award and the Lott Trophy.

The Lombardi Award goes to the “top down lineman or defensive player who lines up within five yards of the football.”

Rutgers TE, Clark Harris; WVU LB, Kevin McLee; and WVU C, Dan Mozes are the other Big East players on the list.

The Lott Trophy is named for Ronnie Lott, and must be a new one, because I never heard of it.

The award is unique because it represents the first trophy to give equal weight to personal character as well as athletic performance from a defensive college player and will be the first national college football award based on the West Coast.

Okay. Yep, this is the 3rd year for it.

While on the subject of Blades, he got a puff piece in the Harrisburg paper yesterday.

While Blades readily accepted his leadership role, he said it’s hard to believe he is approaching his final college season.

“Time flies,” Blades said. “When I was a freshman, I remember Lousake [Polite] and those guys telling me that it will go by fast. I said, ‘I’ve got a whole three years left after this.’ But now I’m going into my senior year, my final year, and I’m going to try to make it as memorable as possible.”

Blades, the son of Bennie Blades, led the Panthers with 121 tackles last year. But Pitt’s run defense was shredded in losses to Notre Dame in the opener, Louisville near midseason and West Virginia in the regular-season finale.

And that performance against the Mountaineers, when Pitt gave up 451 yards on the ground, stayed with Blades for a long time.

“It’s been a long offseason, for sure, but the break after the West Virginia game gave us a chance to think,” Blades said. “We thought about why we weren’t at a bowl game, what we could have done, and we … want to go out and correct those problems.”

For some reason, though, I’m chilled to the bone by this comment from DC Paul Rhoads.

Blades said Pitt’s biggest problems on defense were stopping the run, the most glaring issue, and tackling. Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads partially agreed with Blades’ assessment.

“For sure, we’ve got to stop the run,” Rhoads said. “I wasn’t displeased with how we tackled last year, but obviously we were extremely porous against the run. The way you stop it is that you get more comfortable with your assignments and get into the right places.”

He “wasn’t displeased” with how Pitt tackled? Oh, )!^%#$@*!!!! Then he’s the only one. That doesn’t fill me with great confidence.

It looks like the focus by Seton Hall, quite logically, is on Tom Pecora the Head Coach at Hofstra. The problem for Seton Hall, they aren’t sure whether he wants the job.

According to a person close to the Hofstra men’s basketball program, Pecora will meet with Hayes and Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz tomorrow morning. The source said Pecora will not meet with Seton Hall athletic director Joe Quinlan until after his meeting with the Hofstra administrators.

Pecora has said he would prefer to stay on Long Island. Hofstra likely will offer him a contract extension at that meeting to cement his feelings.

Pecora gets about $225,000/year at Hofstra. At this point, it isn’t even clear if Seton Hall has contacted Pitt for permission to talk to Rohrssen.

On Friday, Quinlan said he was looking for the Pirates’ next coach to have strong metropolitan recruiting ties. Pecora, known as a proven recruiter, recently expressed his happiness being at Hofstra. The Long Island native led the Pride to a 26-7 record this season. Hofstra went to the NIT quarterfinals, winning its first two postseason games as a Division 1 program. Pecora is 81-71 in five years at the school.

Pittsburgh assistant Barry Rohrssen also could be on the Hall’s short list. Pittsburgh athletic director Jeff Long, through a university spokesman, declined to comment on whether Seton Hall had contacted him to request to interview Rohrssen.

Other candidates appear to include Ohio University coach Tim O’Shea, Bobby Gonzalez of Manhattan and Iona’s Jeff Ruland.

Pirate’s Plank Blog (obligatory, “aarrr”) seems to believe they will target a coach with some head coaching experience.

A story from the Jerusalem Post about March Madness.

A narrow aisle, no more than a foot wide, divides the cluster of red sweatshirts from the cluster of blue ones. The fans on the right, the ones in red, are a visibly older bunch who know that one more victory brings their Bradley University Braves to a Land that is far from Promised to a Mid-Major school. The Sweet 16.

Segregated to the left, the fans in blue expect their University of Pittsburgh Panthers, a power team from a power conference, to take care of business. A victory is a victory, but the Final Four is the Final Four.

Although the driver has no choice but to sit on the left side, he has made a point to dress in a neutral white polo. His only loyalties are to his job, which consists of shuttling fans from the Big Bucks Brewery to The Palace at Auburn Hills for the NCAA Tournament’s second round matchups.

“Driver,” a Panthers fan shouts. “You sure you don’t want a Pitt sticker?”

The driver laughs off the offer.

“You know that after the game, you’ll have to drive us both home,” says a Bradley fan. “And only one of us is going to be happy.”

The woman has revealed a truth that leaves the men and women on the bus – both blue and red – silent and uneasy.

Unfortunately, we know which group that was.

LaRod Stephens-Howling, the subject of an early puff-piece last week, has received a couple more. A follow-up in his hometown paper about how he is considered the starter at this point — though everyone is just waiting until the fall when Kevin Collier arrives to challenge him for it.

“He tells me, so this is according to him, that he’s every bit of 10 pounds bigger and stronger this year,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “He said he came in at 158-160, and he’s 170 now. It’s 10 pounds of good weight, and from what I’ve seen out here, it doesn’t look like he’s lost any quickness.”

Wannstedt acknowledged that Stephens-Howling might have difficulty being Pitt’s primary back, but he’s the leading candidate to start right now.

“There’s nobody tougher,” Wannstedt said. “I think any great running back would be insulted if you said he was just a third-down back. That’s what they don’t want to hear. Or you say that they’re just a situation guy.

“But I’m going to give LaRod the benefit of the doubt. I think he’s a guy that can get in there and carry the ball 25 times a game, and until he proves that he can’t, then that’s the way we’ve got to approach it.”

Stephens knows that he is facing competition now and come the fall.

“I wanted to get bigger and improve my power,” he said. “I’m ready for the challenge. We have a lot of competition.”

Others in competition for playing time include sophomore Brandon Mason and redshirt freshman Shane Brooks.

“Experience is lacking,” Wannstedt said. “Desire is abundant. That’s OK. As long as a guy’s got ability and is willing to learn, you can make progress.”

No matter what, Stephens will be taking getting chances. He’s got too much speed and the potential to bust one outside — if the line gives him time to turn the corner — for big gains.

A couple of you have e-mailed this to me, or linked it in the comments. This article about former Pitt Tackle Rob Petitti making some nice change from the NFL’s Performance Based Pay-Program (PBP).

The second-year veteran, who started all 16 games for the Dallas Cowboys at right tackle in 2005, is now a true believer. Only the 209th prospect selected in the 2005 draft, having dropped into the sixth round after an injury-plagued senior season at the University of Pittsburgh overshadowed what had been an otherwise superb college career, Petitti is No. 1 on this year’s performance-based pay roll call.

His windfall, a record $271,287, is nearly $45,000 more than last year’s biggest beneficiary, New York Jets safety Erik Coleman. And it represents a nifty 95 percent increase in Petitti’s 2005 compensation. Notable is the fact Coleman ranked in the top 25 again for 2005, pocketing $196,813 in PBP funds.

According to the article, Petitti made about $284,000 last season from the league minimum and his signing bonus. The PBP seems like a very good program, that until now, I had never heard of.

Around the league, there are a lot of players feeling really good about the PBP program, implemented in 2002 as part of that year’s extension to the collective bargaining agreement, to establish a fund from NFL revenues to supplement the salaries of men whose playing time in a given season is disproportionate to their compensation. Those who benefit the most are primarily guys like Petitti, young players who generally are earning a minimum base salary.

Every player in the league who participates in even one snap receives something from the PBP pool, which does not impact a player’s salary cap charge. The pool to fund the supplements is deducted from the overall league salary cap funds, and it was essentially created by slowing the annual increases in base salaries and by blunting the increases in the annual rookie allocation pool.

What I liked reading, in Petitti’s case, is that most of it went into a mutual fund for savings for the future. Always glad to read when there are athletes actually planning ahead — especially ones who aren’t making a ton of money. He did indulge in the purchase of a new hot tub, though he might make an argument that it should be deducted from his taxes as a work-related expense.

This Dixon extension became all consuming last week. I’m now very backed up with posts on football. I probably have posts that I can churn out for a couple days to clear the backlog.

Pitt has seen the back-up QB transfer each of the past two years. Luke Getsy is now thriving in Akron.

Then there’s Joe Flacco, who is now playing for the leader of the Fulmer Cup, Delaware. Pitt is still making him pay his own way, despite now playing at the Div. 1-AA level.

Blue Hen coach K.C. Keeler said this week that, despite several written requests, Pitt refuses to release Flacco from his scholarship.

While the situation won’t effect the two seasons of eligibility that Flacco has remaining, it does mean that his family will have to continue paying his tuition for the rest of the school year.

“It’s punitive now – in my mind it’s punitive,” said Keeler. “Why would you do this to a student-athlete? It would have been different if they had recruited him.

Well, the message is to more than Flacco that you don’t just transfer out and expect things to be that easy.

If I had a hunch, Pitt’s policy is the kid has to pay his own way for one semester before he is released. That’s how Pitt handled Luke Getsy. He transferred to Akron, right away and for that first semester he paid, then come winter semester he was released and Akron could put him on scholarship.

Flacco didn’t immediately transfer anywhere. He only showed up at Delaware this past semester. I wouldn’t be surprised/hope that he’ll be released by Pitt after the end of the semester. It really serves no purpose for Pitt to punish beyond one semester.